You can pay contactless on the whole STIB-MIVB network. This means you can directly validate your trip using your debit card, credit card, smartphone or smartwatch. Quick, safe and easy!
Is it cheaper to use Oyster or contactless? As both cards use the same Pay As You Go system and are compatible with the TfL Oyster & Contactless app, the costs are comparable. As a tourist in London, it can be worth getting an Oyster Card as part of the London Pass.
Tap On, Tap Off is as simple as it sounds, you tap on by placing your contactless bank card or enabled device onto the ticket machine reader when you board the bus and tap off on the designated card reader when you leave.
A contactless visitor Oyster card is excellent for pay as you go travel as fares are capped. This means this may cost less than a physical ticket. However, a standard contactless card will offer the same benefits. However, the visitor Oyster card is perhaps best used by tourists from foreign countries.
You tap in and the machine immediately deducts the flat fare. The driver will see you do this and challenge you if you don't. It's a flat fare for a trip of any length and this makes tapping out unnecessary. Indeed flat fares were introduced to make this work.
If you don't have a default set on your card and you forget to tap off at the end of your trip, you'll be charged the fare to the last stop on the train line or bus route and with your fare type and any applicable loyalty discounts applied.